Can spacing device for a can labeling machine



June 20, 1961 J. J. MATTINGLY ET A]. 2,939,167

CAN SPACING DEVICE FOR A CAN LABELING MACHINE Original Filed Jan. 20. 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 T'IB 1 IN VEN TORS.

JOHN J. MATTINGLY RALPH J. MATTINGLY, DECEASED BY RICHARD R. MATTINGLY, EXEOUTOR Ki ATTORNEY June 1951 J. J. MATTINGLY ET AL 2,989,167

CAN SPACING DEVICE FOR A CAN LABELING MACHINE Original Filed Jan. 20 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 '1' and 2 in any suitable manner.

United States Patent 2,989,167 CAN SPACING DEVICE FOR A CAN LABELING MACHINE John J. Mattingly, 213 Front St., Rising Sun, Ind., and

Ralph J. Mattiugly, deceased, late of Rising Sun, Ind., by Richard R. Mattingly, executor, P.(). Box 325, Aurora, Ind.

Original application Jan. 20, 1955, 'Ser. No. 483,074, now Patent No. 2,868,403, dated Jan. 13, 1959. Divided and this application Dec. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 782,974

6 Claims. (Cl. 19834) improved means for feeding the cans into-the machine in the proper spaced relation. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a side elevation withparts in section, of a can labeling machine embodying the can spacing device of the present invention.

*FIG. 2 is a plan view of the machine illustrated in FIG. 1. 7

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevation taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 illustrating the can spacing device of the present invention.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, spaced apart tracks 1 and 2 are illustrated. These tracks are provided with side'guides 3 along which end edges or beads of cans 4 are adapted to travel, the cans being fed onto the tracks In a canning factory, for example, the cans may be fed directly from the can sealing means. I Mounted on a machine frame 5 is a pair of arms 6 and 7 (FIG. 2), the arms being pivoted to the frame adjacent their rear ends by means of pins 8 and 9. The arms 6 and 7 are joined together intermediate their ends by a cross bar 10; and the arms are urged downwardly in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 1) by means of springs 11 and 12 (FIG. 2) each of which is compressed between one of the arms 6 or 7 and a bracket member 13 or 14. Suitable studs, such as studs 15 and 16 (FIG. 1), are provided to maintain the springs in proper position between the arms and the bracket members. The bracket members 13 and 14 (FIG. 2) also carry depending fingers 17 and 17a, respectively, the lower ends of which are inturned and adapted to engage beneath the cross bar 10. The fingers are threaded at their upper ends and are axially adjustable by means of nuts 18 and 19 (FIG. 1), the fingers thus serving as stops limiting the counterclockwise movement of the arms 6 and 7.

At their outer ends, the arms 6 and 7 carry rocker arms 20 and 21 (FIG. 2) which are mounted to rock relative to the arms 6 and 7. Rotatable shafts 22 and 23 (FIGS. 1 and 3) extend between the ends of the arms,;and

'- a pair of rollers 24 and 25 are mounted on theshafts 22 and 23, respectively. The pairs of'rollers are fixed 'to the shafts and are adapted to be rotated thereby, the shaft 22 being driven bya chain 27 which passes around a sprocket 26 keyed to shaft 22 and around a sprocket 28 operatively connected to the drive mechanism for the machine. A chain 29 passing around sprockets 30 and 31 (FIG. 3) serves to drive the shaft 23 from the shaft 22. The rocket arms 20 and 21 are provided with angular extensions 32 and 33 between which a shaft 34 extends. This shaft mounts a collar 35 to which one end of a shaft 36 is connected, the opposite end of the shaft extending freely beyond a bracket 37 through which the shaft passes. Springs 38 and 38a surround the shaft, one on each side of the bracket 37, and the springs 38 and 38a are compressed between the bracket 37 and collars 39 and 3911, respectively, thereby balancing the rocket arms and rollers in an intermediate position.

In operation, the can spacing or metering means will normally assume a position in which the rocker arms 20 and 21 and rollers 24 and 25 lie substantially parallel to the tracks 1 and 2, and in the path of the advancing cans, as seen in FIG. 1. As the can 4a rolls down the tracks, it will first contact the rollers 24 on the forward ends of the rocket arms and the momentum of the can will be sutficient to move these rollers upwardly, thereby causing the rocker arms 20 and 21 to rock in a clockwise direction against the compression of the spring 38. The upward movement of the rollers 24 permits the can 4a to pass therebeneath, whereupon it contacts the lowered rollers 25 on the rearward end of the rocker arms. The rollers 25 momentarily arrest the forward movement of the can. The can will, however, rock the rollers 25 upwardly, this time against the compression of the spring 38a, and the can will then pass beneath the rollers 25 and on down the tracks. At the same time the rollers 24 are rocked downwardly into the path of the next adjacent can 4b, the rollers 24 assuming the position illustrated in FIG. 3, thereby momentarily arresting the forward movementof the can 4b. Once the cam 4a has passed beyond the rollers 25, these rollers will be free to move downwardly under the influence of the can 4b urging the rollers 24 upwardly, whereupon the cycle is repeated. In this way the cans are evenly spaced in their forward movement through the machine. Adjustment of the position of the rollers may be made by means of the arms 6 and 7 which may be raised and lowered by'means of the adjustable fingers 17 and 17a. The can spacing mechanism is thus adjusted to operate with cans of various diameters.

After the cans pass the spacing means, they are contacted by moving belts 40 and 41 which move the cans forwardly along the tracks 1 and 2. Suitable hold down means in the form of rollers 42 are provided to maintain the lower flights of the belts in contact with the cans, the rollers being mounted on arms, such as the arm 43, and urged into engagement with the belts by means of springs, such as spring 44. As the cans move along, they pass over a glue pot 45 in which is positioned a glue applicator comprising a plurality of glue wheels 46 mounted on a rotatable shaft 47 driven by means of a chain 48 operatively connected to the machine drive. The glue wheels 46 are positioned in spaced apart relation and are adapted to apply a plurality of spaced apart spots of glue to the cans. The glue wheels 46 and the operation thereof are described in detail in our aforementioned pending application.

Subsequent to the application of the glue spots, the cans pass over a stack of labels extending upwardly between the tracks 1 and 2 and supported on a liftable platform 61 (*FIG. 1). The stack 60 is so arranged that the uppermost label in the stack will lie in a position to be contacted by a can passing over it, and the glue spots on the can will engage the label, causing the label to adhere to the can. Continued forward movement ofthe can serves 3 to wrap the label about the cylindrical surface of the can. The liftable platform 61, and the means for raising the stack of labels as the labels are removed, are described in detail in our previously mentioned pending application.

Intermediate the leading and trailing ends of the stack of labels, the tracks 1 and 2 are inclined upwardly so as to raise the cans above the rear portion of the stack so as to pass over a glue bar 70 which rests on the rear edge of the stack and acts to apply a transverse band of adhesive to the trailing edge of each label. An adhesive is continuously circulated through the glue bar, being pumped through the tube 74 from reservoir 75 by pump 76 and returning to the reservoir through the tube 77. The band of adhesive formed by the blue bar serves to connect the leading and trailing edges of the labels, the labels being of a length such that upon being wrapped around the cans their leading and trailing edges will overlap sufficiently to form a seam. In addition to applying glue to the trailing edge of the labels, the glue bar acts to hold each label in taut condition as it is being wrapped about the can. The label will be pulled from beneath the glue bar as the forward movement of the can continues, thereby permitting the glue bar to contact and apply adhesive to the next adjacent label. Means 78 are provided to automatically raise the glue bar from contact with the stack of labels should the flow of cans through the machine be interrupted for any reason. The glue bar and the glue bar actuating means are described in detail in our aforementioned pending application.

It will be understood that modifications and variations of the invention disclosed herein may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device for the purposes described, metering means for retarding the movement of cans as they move down an inclined track, said means comprising rocker arms mounting leading and trailing sets of rollers for contact with the moving cans, and means mounting said rocker arms for rocking movement upon contact of the cans with said rollers, a source of rotary power, means connecting said source of rotary power to said sets of rollers for rotating said sets of rollers in a predetermined direction, said leading set of rollers being movable upwardly by an advancing can so as to lower the trailing set of rollers into the path of the said advancing can whereby forward movement of the advancing can will be retarded, the movement of the advancing can beneath said trailing set of rollers acting to rock the leading set of rollers downwardly into the path of the next succeeding can.

2. A device for spacing successive cans advancing along a predetermined path comprising a support structure, a rocker arm pivotally mounted on said support structure above said predetermined path, a first roller carried by said rocker arm in the path of advancing cans and arranged to be moved upward by contact with an advancing can, and a second roller carried by said rocker arm and spaced from said first roller in the direction of travel of the advancing cans, a source of rotary power, means connecting said first and second rollers for rotation to said source of rotary power, said second roller being arranged to be lowered into the path of said advancing can when said first roller is moved upward, to be in position to contact said advancing can, said second roller being operable to retard the forward movement of said advancing can and lower said first roller into the path of a succeeding can thereby retarding the forward movement of said succeeding can.

3. A device for spacing successive cans advancing along a predetermined path comprising'a support structure, a rocker arm pivotally mounted on said support structure above said predetermined path, yieldable means connected to said rocker arm for resisting the pivotal movement of said rocker arm, a first roller carried by said rocker arm in the path of advancing cans and arranged to be moved upward by contact with an advancing can against the action of said yieldable means, and a second roller carried by said rocker arm and spaced from said first roller in the direction of travel of the advancing cans, said second roller being arranged to be lowered into the path of said advancing can when said first roller is moved upward whereby to retard the forward movement of said advancing can, continued movement of said advancing can being effective to raise said second roller against the action of said yieldable means and to lower said first roller into the path of a succeeding can, thereby retarding the forward movement of said succeeding can.

4. A device for spacing successive cans advancing along a predetermined path comprising a support structure, rocker arms pivotally mounted intermediate their end portions on said support structure above said predetermined path and arranged to extend in the direction of travel of the advancing cans, yieldable means connected to said rocker arms for resisting the pivotal movement of said rocker arms, a first roller carried by the forward end portions of said rocker arms in the path of advancing cans and arranged to be moved upward by contact with an advancing can against the action of said yieldable means, and a second roller carried by the rear end portions of said rocker arms, said second roller being arranged to be lowered into the path of said advancing can when said first roller is moved upward whereby to retard the forward movement of said advancing can, movement of said advancing can into engagement with said second roller being etfective to raise said second roller against the action of said yieldable means and to lower said first roller into the path of a succeeding can, thereby retarding the forward movement of said succeeding can.

5. A device for spacing successive cans advancing along a predetermined path comprising a support structure, support arms pivotally mounted at their proximal ends on said support structure above said predetermined path, rocker arms pivotally mounted intermediate their end portions on the distal ends of said support arms, said rocker arms being arranged to extend in the direction of travel of the advancing cans, yieldable means connected to said rocker arms for resisting the pivotal movement of said rocker arms, a first roller carried by the forward end portions of said rocker arms in the path of advancing cans and arranged to be moved upward by contact with an advancing can against the action of said yieldable means, and a second roller carried by the rearward end portions of said rocker arms, said second roller being arranged to be lowered into the path of said advancing can when said first roller is moved upward whereby to retard the forward movement of said advancing can, continued movement of said advancing can being effective to raise said second roller against the action of said yieldable means to lower said first roller into the path of a succeeding can, thereby retarding the forward movement of said succeeding can.

6. A device for spacing successive cans along a predetermined path comprising a support structure, support arms pivotally mounted at their proximal ends on said support structure above said predetermined path, springs urging said support arms toward said predetermined path, rocker arms pivotally mounted intermediate their end portions on the distal ends of said support arms, said rocker arms being arranged to extend in the direction of travel of the advancing cans, yieldable means connected to said rocker arms for resisting the pivotal movement of said rocker arms, a first roller carried by the forward end portions of said rocker arms in the path of advancing cans and arranged to be moved upward by contact with an advancing can against the action of said yieldable means, and a second roller carried by the rearward portions of said rocker arms, said second roller being arranged to be lowered into the path of said advancing can when said first roller is movedupward for retarding the forward 5 mbvement of said advancing can, continued movement of References Cited in theme of this patent said advancing can being efiective to raise said second roller against the action of said yieldabie means to lower UNITED STATES PATENTS said first roller into the path of a succeeding can, thereby 1,446,591 Small Feb. 27, 1923 retarding the forward movement of said succeeding can. 5 2,297,330 Schoepfer Sept. 29, 1942 

